‘Unity at home and strength abroad’. Britain prepares for WW1 by postponing Irish home rule

The outbreak of war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia in July 1914 forced British politicians to postpone the Amending Bill for Irish home rule. This was momentous because Nationalists and Unionists had been on the verge of civil war (see picture above) over the amendments, which concerned the exclusion of the six counties of Ulster. The Spectator noted, gravely, that a continental war appeared to be unavoidable, so the nation must pull together. ‘Unity at home and strength abroad,’ it demanded. The Spectator also suggested that the ‘national energy is best conserved and best applied by a Liberal Government supported by a Unionist Opposition’ with Asquith’s Liberal Cabinet supplement by prominent Conservatives such as Lord Lansdowne, Andrew Bonar-Law, Arthur Balfour and Austen Chamberlain, among others. Britain would declare war three days later.

More than 200,000 Irishmen served in Great Britain’s armed forces in world war one. More than 30,000 were killed in action.